Pure concentrated goodness?
Siobhan asked me if I was ever going to write about anything besides prudence. My short answer is, yes-and-no.
The long answer is that, the way I see it, writing about any one of the virtues really entails writing about them all. Every virtue implies every other, ultimately. The names are simply a matter of focus.
… from a certain point of view…
As far as I know, this approach to virtue is something I made up on my own, so I welcome anybody to correct or refine what I’m saying here.
It seems to me that the virtues are not exactly separate things from each other, but distinct aspects of a virtuous action.
So, any given action – for example, eating a bowl of ice cream (one of my favorite actions!) – can be seen from the perspective of prudence, or justice, or fortitude, or temperance. For that matter, you can look at it from the point of view of faith, or hope, or love.
My thinking is still a bit muddy, but I find the cardinal virtue / theological virtue distinction to be valuable here, showing two major lenses to use in looking at actions.
Cardinal virtues
So, in deciding about eating a bowl of ice cream, one can ask whether it is prudent. That is, is eating ice cream really a good thing for me in my current situation?
One can also ask, is it temperate? That is, are my desires within me in harmony with the truth and facts I’ve prudently discovered? Or, is it courageous? That is, must I overcome obstacles in order to achieve the good that I have prudently discovered?
Finally, one acts. And one asks, is this action just? That is, am I pursuing good in accordance with reality, opposing my false desires and overcoming obstacles?
So, prudence discovers the good; fortitude and temperance clear the way to pursuing that good, one by overcoming external obstacles and the other by opposing internal disorders; and justice acts to pursue the good. All the virtues collaborate in the process of taking action, and any given action is virtuous to the extent that it conforms to all the cardinal virtues.
Theological virtues
I see the theological virtues as a kind of parallel. Faith discovers the good – not merely relying on my own reason, but trusting in the testimony of others. Hope clears the path to the good by putting false desires and external obstacles in proper perspective. And love acts for the good, even by laying down one’s life for one’s beloved.
So the theological virtues build upon the cardinal virtues and express them, not merely from my own individual and human perspective, but from a higher perspective, even a divine perspective.
What about the ice cream?
I understand that the greatest question here may be, “Yeah, but did you eat the ice cream?”
How could you be in any doubt? Ice cream is a form of pure concentrated goodness.
Of course I ate the ice cream!
Perhaps it is because I know absolutely nothing about philosophy (aside from the falling tree noise cliche), I respectfully disagree with your assessement that “every virtue implies every other, ultimately.” To prove my point, let’s say I’m a very prudent person. If what you said is true, doesn’t the fact that I am prudent imply that I am also patient and courageous and everything else? I can assure you that makes no sense–at least to me. On the other hand, I’m 100% with you on the ice cream.
I guess I would say that, yes, you can be fairly prudent without being patient and courageous and so on … up to a point. But the lack of the other virtues will, sooner or later, get in the way of your ability to *be* prudent.
For example, without courage, prudence is impotent in the face of a risky or dangerous situation. It would say, “Yep, I sure ought to jump into the river to save those drowning kids,” but wouldn’t be able to actually *do* the prudent thing.
And virtue is all about action. At least, that’s how it makes sense to me.
How interesting that you chose to use the drowning kid example, because IMHO that example demonstrates exactly my point that prudence and courage and all the other virtues are separate and distinct from each other. If someone sees a drowning kid in some river rapids, regardless of how courageous he or she is, the prudent thing for that person to do is to make sure he does not unreasonably put his own life in jeopardy (think how we’re supposed to put our own oxygen masks on before we do that for our kids).